Edward Wilson: Yeah. Well, we were already with two GDSs with Travelport and Sabre. But I think we’ve increasingly seen with the profile of bases that we’ve opened across Europe and the connectivity that we’ve had and the growth in frequencies that business travelers want to access our fares. And a lot of the corporates go through these systems, whereby it manages their expenses. And that’s primarily where we’re going with Amadeus. It’s primarily on the corporate business type customer who doesn’t want to necessarily have the complication of going directly to ryanair.com, when it’s able to manage the expenses of their employees. So we will — that will be coming shortly. But we will look at any other distribution channels and some of these are nationally based as well where — why there’s a direct feed into corporate expense management.
Michael O’Leary: Okay. Thanks, Eddie. Next question, please. Thanks, Alex.
Operator: That’s from the line of Savi Syth at Raymond James.
Savanthi Syth: Hey. Good morning, everyone.
Michael O’Leary: Savi, hi.
Savanthi Syth: Hey. So the first question, I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about fuel efficiency in terms of the gallon proceeds or some of the metrics. I was just curious what you’re seeing today and your expectation as you kind of head into fiscal year ’24 and maybe the next couple of years, given that you’re getting the MAX aircraft in the fleet and what we could expect on that front? And then secondly, I was just wondering if you could remind me on the lease extensions on the Airbus and NG fleet. And if there’s any more that you’re still working on?
Michael O’Leary: Okay, Savi. Thank you. I’m going to ask Thomas Fowler here as Director of Sustainability, just to talk about the fuel efficiency and what we’re doing there. And Neil, maybe you might give an update on the lease situation on — it’s essentially the A320 fleet.
Thomas Fowler: Yeah. So Savi, just on the fuel efficiency on the markets like, I think as we well flagged before. We’re seeing slightly better than the 16% fuel efficiency saving on the longer sectors and at the 16% on the shorter sector. So like, it’s very hard to give you the exact per and budget and allocation for like somewhere around that 16% figure as you see the MAXs coming in is not unreasonable. And also, we’re also retrofitting the 737 NGs with the scimitar winglets, which will be about 1.5% fuel save in a year. But most of that work will be done through the winter, when we’re doing our maintenance schedule. So we won’t see a big number this year, but we’ll have a bit more color going into next year is how the maintenance season goes on that retrofit.
Neil Sorahan: Okay. And on the leases savvy, we extended 24 of the 29 A320 leases out as far as 2028. So that’s very attractive lease rentals. And we’ve opportunistically now added a 737 NG former sister ship, which became available again at attractive levels that can mean to our fleet in December. But we’re not usually interested or searching at this stage for secondhand aircrafts with the Boeing’s coming in a more predictable fashion than before.
Savanthi Syth: Okay. Thank you.
Michael O’Leary: Good. Thanks, Savi. I mean, I think it’s fair to say, we’re not out looking for additional lease aircraft, but where we are receiving offers. And if the offers are financially are opportunities interesting, we follow up on them. At the moment, we have more than 120 aircraft to 100 aircraft is take from Boeing or 120 over the next three years. And therefore, all of the growth will take place on these low-cost aircraft that are really extraordinarily fuel-efficient given that they’re carrying 4% more passengers. Thanks for the question, Savi. Next question, please.
Operator: Thank you. That comes from the line of Jaime Rowbotham from Deutsche Bank.
Michael O’Leary: Jaime, hi.
Jaime Rowbotham: Good morning. Just going back to staff, Michael, are competitors successfully pinching Ryanair pilots by offering higher pay or put another way, is pilot turnover any higher than normal? And if so, how are you addressing it? And then secondly, as Neil said, in terms of overall costs ex-fuel per pack, you’re on track for EUR31 this year. What about the year to March ’24? Can you get back to fiscal ’19 levels of just below EUR30 or do things like labor costs hedging up start to make that tricky? Thanks.
Michael O’Leary: Okay. Thanks. We’re not seeing any competitors. I mean, like I think it’s kind of a side. A, there’s a couple of issues. We operate 737s across Europe, almost all of our competitors are operating Airbus aircraft. So if you like, the inflation of the pilot pinching seems to be within the Airbus fleet in general terms. We are seeing some pilots say that there is certainly a restoration of the Gulf carriers out there looking to hire first officers who should know better, but don’t and are attracted out to the Middle East. But the numbers are small And I put that in the context, like we currently have almost 1,200 cadets coming through our system. We’ve been hiring and training cadets assiduously over the last — I would say, over the last two years, and so we have far more pilots coming through our system, then we have attrition.
In expedited value, we may be a little bit over piloted for the next year or two. But we think that’s a sensible place to be because we’re expecting significant ATC disruptions, certainly through the first and possibly the second quarter of next year. But no, we see no pilot pinching. And I think to the extent there is pilot pinching is taking place between the Airbus operators. PA Pinching; EasyJet, EasyJet pinching. Weeze and Weeze’s pitching. Valaris generally. On ex-fuel unit costs, I mean, again, I think the issue for us is not so much what’s going to happen to our unit cost over the next 12 months. I think we will have a unit cost of about EUR31 by the time we get to the end of this year. I think the real opportunity here for investors and analysts, though, is what’s going to happen to Weeze and EasyJet and Lufthansa and IAG’s unit costs over the next 12 months.
They’ve exploded over the last two years of COVID, principally huge cost inflation on aircraft ownership and lease costs, and that’s going to continue to rise. They’re generally operating and have airports where they are price takers of both airport fees and the handling charges that are rising materially, and I think you’re going to see that continue to widen. I think also if you look at the way Weeze and to a lesser extent, where EasyJet has been out there, panicking over pay levels and recruitment seem to be recruitment changes. I think there pay and staff costs would be rising at a faster level than ours, particularly when we are adding aircraft that carry 4% more passengers and burning 14% or 16% less fuel. So I think the issue for our investors and analysts is not so much will our EUR31 go to EUR32 or stay at EUR31 in FY ’24.
But it’s that the widening gap between our unit cost of EUR30. Weeze currently at EUR46 and EasyJet at EUR75. I think you’re going to see that cost gap widen materially in the next year, particularly on aircraft and leasing and ownership side, where we’re paying down debt and they’re exposed to rising financing costs over the next 12 months. Thanks, Jaime. Next question, please?
Operator: Thank you. That comes from the line of Duane Pfennigwerth of Evercore ISI. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Michael O’Leary: Duane, hi.
